Shortly after settling in at La Moncloa, Spain's new prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, welcomed the ship Aquarius after it was rejected by the Italian government. But a few months later, his immigration policy changed, writes Beatriz Becerra.

EU leaders poured cold water on Theresa May's Brexit plans at an informal summit in Salzburg on Thursday (20 September) but they remained divided over migration, with French president Emmanuel Macron launching a broadside at the EU's ‘troublesome’ member states.

As EU leaders gathered on 19 September in Salzburg (Austria) for an informal meeting, Austria’s Sebastian Kurz and European Council President Donald Tusk called for an EU-Arab States summit on migration next February and a Brexit summit in November.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Thursday (30 August) "there is no consensus on practical solutions" to migration at the moment and urged member states to show more responsibility towards migrants in the Mediterranean.

Italy will let its coast guard ship carrying 177 migrants rescued on the Mediterranean Sea five days ago dock in Sicily, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said on Monday, ending a standoff with Malta over where the ship should disembark.

Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli on Sunday (19 August) called for sanctions against Malta, accusing it of not rescuing migrant boats in the Mediterranean and leaving the burden to Italy, in the latest row between the two countries over the issue.

The Mediterranean rescue ship Aquarius arrived at Valletta harbour in Malta on Wednesday (15 August) to allow 141 migrants to get off, ending a five-day tug-of-war among EU countries which had seen the vessel banned from docking in several ports.

After a sleepless night, EU leaders clinched a deal on migration at their June summit. Yet, they seem overly focused on tackling the symptoms of migration, not its root cause – starting with poverty and unemployment, writes Tom Arnold.

The recent EU mini-summit on migration held on 24 June has reaffirmed more openly than ever before, the fundamental dissensions and schism among member states, if not among EU institutions themselves, in the field of migration and asylum policy. A two-speed EU migration policy would be the best solution to keep EU unity, writes Solon Ardittis.

After the CSU indicated it did really not want German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Bavarian state election campaign and invited Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, both leaders met during a special summit on migration policy on Sunday in Brussels. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Reaching a common EU response to the long-running migration crisis has been painfully slow. Ministers remain deadlocked on plans to reform the so-called Dublin Regulation that sets out the EU’s common migration and asylum rules.

Since 2016, the EU is working on the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Particularly tricky is the creation of a new Dublin IV agreement, clarifying which country is responsible for the asylum application of a person. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The 2015 migrant crisis caught Europe off guard, with little funding, limited manpower and no contingency plans in place. The number of migrants trying to reach Europe has declined significantly since then but migration is back on the EU's radar.

Greece has suffered more than any other EU country during the turbulent last decade. While the Greek government’s mishandling was partly to blame for the eurozone’s turmoil, the country was rather the victim of the member states’ inaction during the refugee crisis.

Dealing with the refugee crisis has proved to be an insurmountable task for Europe, due to the apparent lack of a coherent immigration policy and political indecisiveness. Europe's cohesion comes out shaken as a result, EURACTIV.gr reports.

How prepared is the EU to receive people in need of protection? How can the integration programmes be improved? – two important case files for Brussels and the member states that can decide the future of millions. EURACTIV Romania reports.

After a week of talks, German coalition negotiators agreed on the cornerstones of their new programme. But when a new government could actively participate in meaningful EU reform is still uncertain. EURACTIV Germany reports.